


The law isn't all it's cracked up to be

by WolverineHowl



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: And then confessing when they can't resist, Arthur and Merlin pretending that they don't actually love each other, Arthur and Merlin really love each other, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Merlin is a Little Shit, Morgana is an independent woman, Pining Arthur, Romance, Single parent Morgana
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-10-24 01:14:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 21,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10731114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolverineHowl/pseuds/WolverineHowl
Summary: Arthur is a partner of the law firm Pendragon Family at which Merlin is interning.Merlin, demonstrating how efficient he is gets offered a job as Arthur's Personal Assistant.The only way that they seem to stand each others company is when they are away from prying eyes, especially those of Arthur's stepsister Morgana.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If it seems like you've read this fic before, or have read one really similar, that because I posted it first to fan fiction.net. I have literally just passed it from fan fiction to here, but I will be rereading and changing a few things as this was written over five years ago, so it probably isn't my best writing.

Chapter 1: First encounters of the gay kind

 

            Arthur stepped into his office after having just fired his third PA in less than two months. It seemed that no matter how hard he tried with them, they were all bumbling idiots. He had had to mention the problem to Uther and so now Uther thought it was his duty to personally find him his next PA. This was such a disaster, Uther was probably just going to send one of his cronies to spy on him and then he’d never be able to hide anything from Uther again.

            Arthur picked up his jacket from where it lay on the coat rack as well as the files he had yet to go over for tomorrow morning’s meeting with his client Sofia Sidhe. Sofia was beautiful but definitely not his type for he much preferred for his partners to be more of the male variety and only engaged in frivolities with women to appease Uther. Just as he was opening the door to exit the building he bumped into something, or someone apparently.

            The stranger glanced up just as Arthur looked down only to be met by the most shockingly blue eyes he had ever seen. The boy had raven hair and was too pale not to mention wearing the most ridiculous outfit and yet, those eyes. He had never seen eyes that beautiful. Before Arthur could even form a coherent thought, let alone know what he wanted to tell the other, the boy was rushing past him into the night. He hadn’t even been able to ask his name, how would he know how to find him, would he ever see him again?

            That night Arthur couldn’t sleep. The boy was haunting him it seemed, for as soon as he closed his eyes, there he was. No matter how hard he tried to keep the thoughts away, they returned unbidden. Before Arthur knew what he was doing, he had reached down into his boxer briefs and grasped his cock. He knew that this was wrong, fantasizing about someone he knew he had no chance with, but he could not stop himself. He tried summoning up mental images of famous actors that he found fit, maybe that would help, yet as soon as he closed his eyes again, there was the boy.

            Arthur could hold off no longer, so he grasped his cock once more and began to move his hand in a rhythmic pattern. He imagined the boys sumptuous and pink, full lips wrapped around his cock and the mental image spurred him in to moving his hand at a faster pace. As Arthur sped up his pace more and more he stroked the weeping head with his thumb at the same moment that his mental image of the boy looked up in to his eyes. The arousal those blue eyes brought forward shocked him, but not as much as his sudden orgasm coming to fruition. It seemed that those deep blue eyes were enough to make him come and experience the most intense pleasure he had ever felt before.

            Now if only he could get that boy into his bed for real, he would show him the time of his life. He wondered what that boys name was, if only so that he could cry it out as he climaxed. Arthur got up off of the bed and went into his bedroom’s adjoining bathroom. Using one of the towels he had stacked neatly next to the shower he cleaned himself off while thinking back on those blue eyes. Who was he? Where was he from? Most importantly, when would they meet again?

            All of these questions daunted Arthur for he could not seem to stop thinking about the boy. He headed back into his bedroom and flopped down onto his bed, completely nude. He smiled brightly at the memory of the boy’s face before drifting of into the most peaceful sleep he had had in more than two years.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

            When Arthur woke up the next morning it was to the sight of his alarm clock blinking blearily in his face. The clock read nine AM. Arthur sat up straight in bed. There was no way that he had overslept. He had never overslept, not once in his entire life, and yet here he was, waking up two hours later than he would usually wake up. Arthur hopped off of his bed and ran straight to his bathroom hoping to maybe squeeze in a quick shower before he had to rush to work. He was going to have to skip through his usual morning training but if it made him get to work on time then it was all worth it in the end.

            As soon as Arthur had gotten out of the shower he heard the incessant ringing which meant that his father was probably overreacting that he hadn’t gotten to work at least an hour earlier than everyone else. Why did it seem like the first time that he actually felt like he had a reason to his life, his father barged right back in to his life. By this point Arthur was dressed and heading out the door, breakfast would have to wait, his first meeting was at ten and it was already half past nine.

            His red Porsche was waiting for him in its usual spot, but it seemed that something was off about it today. He glanced at the door only to realize that there was a large scrape in the paint. Someone had keyed his car! This was supposed to be a safe neighborhood, just his luck for it to happen at the worst time. Setting the problem aside for now, he decided it was better if he just focused on getting to his meeting on time.

            Pulling up to the parking lot, Arthur turned to face his wrist only to see that he had barely five minutes to get to the conference room on the 15th floor. If only he still had a PA, they could have called to make sure that he woke up on time so that this would not happened. He wished Uther would get him a new personal assistant soon, even if they were just one of his spies. Arthur could see the elevator get closer to the bottom floor and yet it seemed to be dropping people off at every single floor. From beside him he heard a melodic voice ask the receptionist if they knew where Arthur Pendragon’s office was but he put it off, he couldn’t be distracted from his goal, he had to get to his meeting.

            The person that had spoken to the receptionist was now standing beside him and unable to resist temptation any longer, Arthur turned to look at the stranger that had such an enticing voice. It was the raven-haired boy from last night. How was it that he kept appearing in his life? It was at that moment that Arthur realized that the boy had been talking to him, most probably asking him where to find Arthur or something.

            “I’m sorry for last night. I had to get to a meeting with Uther Pendragon. You know how it is, if the king calls you run to answer.”

            Arthur had never heard a lovelier voice, he only wished he knew what it would sound like when deep and husky when filled with lust and arousal. HE was getting off track; the boy had started talking again. At this rate he was going to think that Arthur was retarded or something.

            “My name is Merlin by the way, what’s yours?”

            Merlin, what a curious name, like King Arthur and the wizard Merlin, well wasn’t that ironic.

            “I’m Arthur, Arthur Pendragon. I believe you were looking for me.” Smooth, very smooth Pendragon. “Now, care to tell me exactly why you were looking for me?”

            At that very moment the elevator finally opened its doors to the first floor, ready to take Arthur up to his meeting. Both Arthur and Merlin stepped on and reached for the button to the 15th floor at the same time. Arthur raised an inquisitive eyebrow in Merlin’s direction, hoping that maybe he could arouse him and make him desire him with as much furor as Arthur himself desired Merlin.

            “Well, you see, that is actually what my meeting with Uther Pendragon was about. He wanted me to fill the position as your new Personal Assistant. He said you’d been having trouble keeping one for very long.”

            Arthur stared at the boy, Merlin he had to remind himself. This was his personal assistant. Although he found Merlin to be appealing to the eye, he highly doubted that someone so young could have sufficient qualifications for such a demanding job. He must be one of Uther’s cronies.

            “How is it, pray tell, that someone so young was able to get a position like this, if you don’t mind me asking?”

            “Well, as a matter of fact, a lot of people jokingly refer to me as the organizational wizard, I guess this is why your father wanted me to help control your life. I believe he mentioned something about you being unstable right now.”

            Of course Uther would say something like that, he and Leon had been best friends for quite a long time before they had ever become lovers, so when Leon abandoned him it had stung. Thus, Arthur had been left feeling like a puddle of goo and had refused to leave his flat for close to two weeks. Now it seemed destiny had handed him this golden opportunity to be happy again but there had to be some sort of catch to all of this.

            “Why are you here?” There had to be some sort of reason that this boy had fallen straight from the sky and right in to his lap.

            “I’ve always admired your work, so when I heard that a new intern position had opened up I thought about it for all of two seconds before applying for the position. Of course I got it” The elevator made a dinging noise indicating that they had finally reached their destination. “Then, when I heard that your father was asking around for recommendations for personal assistants for you I couldn’t help but leap at the chance.”

            It seemed that the fool just would not stop talking, for the life of him, Arthur could barely even remember how this conversation had begun, less than two minutes ago. Merlin was still talking but Arthur had ceased listening and was just staring intently on Merlin’s plush lips open and close while they drew ever nearer to the conference room.

            Arthur opened the door to the conference room and noticed two things at once, Merlin had finally shut up, and two, Leon was standing embracing Sophia off in the farthest corner from the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will not upload it all at a time, but I will try and post two to three chapters every week.


	3. Chapter 3

           “Arthur! What are you doing here? I thought this was your father’s case.” Leon’s voice wavered as he said Arthur’s name. Arthur stared at Leon, there were no words to describe the pain that he had felt when he had set his eyes on Leon’s face. What was worse was that he seemed to be in some way involved with Sophia. What was the relation between those two?

           “Would you have come if you’d known that it was to be me who was to represent Ms. Sidhe here?” Arthur really he hoped he said yes, he had so longed for the moment in which he could look upon Leon’s beautiful features once more. There was something different about Leon today though. It was as if he was no longer as breathtakingly beautiful as he had once been. As a third voice entered their conversation, he realized why exactly this was.

            “So, you two know each other?” Merlin was standing to Arthur’s right and by his proximity it almost seemed like he wanted to throw Arthur behind him so that he could somehow protect him from Leon.

            “We grew up together, didn’t we Arthur?” A look of hurt passed over Arthur’s features when Leon said this. Leon had never been able to fully commit himself to their relationship. This was why Arthur answered back spitefully, “Yes, we did, until you decided that a twenty year friendship was worth nothing and threw it down the drain when you left me after being together for such a long time. I mean we were dating, how could you do that to your boyfriend? No! How could you do that to me? We were supposed to be best mates!”

            By this point in the conversation Arthur’s carefully constructed cool exterior was crumbling and everyone in the room could see this. Arthur dabbed furiously at his eyes with his shirtsleeve while spinning in place to lock eyes with Merlin. “Do you think that you could take care of this? I need some time to think.” With that said, Arthur was halfway out of the room before Leon sprinted forward and locked onto the crook of his elbow, turning him around so that they were face to face.

            “I never meant to hurt you Arthur. I just wasn’t ready to be honest to myself like you wanted me to be. Ever since then though I’ve been trying to open up more and I even found this amazing guy. His name is Gwaine and we’ve been together for close to a year. Let me tell you Arthur I’ve never felt as horrible as I did that day when I left. There are no words that could ever describe the love I felt for you back then. I still love you, but as a friend, I wanted to let you know, I never wanted to hurt you.”

            Arthur was openly sobbing now, with little hiccups interspersed with soft keening noises. He launched himself into Leon’s arms and let himself be comforted by the strong arms that wrapped around his middle. He nuzzled against Leon’s neck while reaching a hand into his shiny golden locks. Arthur pulled lightly and glanced up at Leon through tear-ridden eyes.

            “You don’t know how hard it’s been for me ever since you left. My father has been putting more and more pressure on me and I just wish that you could have been there to

             “Arthur! What are you doing here? I thought this was your father’s case.” Leon’s voice wavered as he said Arthur’s name. Arthur stared at Leon, there were no words to describe the pain that he had felt when he had set his eyes on Leon’s face. What was worse was that he seemed to be in some way involved with Sophia. What was the relation between those two?

             “Would you have come if you’d known that it was to be me who was to represent Ms. Sidhe here?” Arthur really he hoped he said yes, he had so longed for the moment in which he could look upon Leon’s beautiful features once more. There was something different about Leon today though. It was as if he was no longer as breathtakingly beautiful as he had once been. As a third voice entered their conversation, he realized why exactly this was.

             “So, you two know each other?” Merlin was standing to Arthur’s right and by his proximity it almost seemed like he wanted to throw Arthur behind him so that he could somehow protect him from Leon.

            “We grew up together, didn’t we Arthur?” A look of hurt passed over Arthur’s features when Leon said this. Leon had never been able to fully commit himself to their relationship. This was why Arthur answered back spitefully, “Yes, we did, until you decided that a twenty year friendship was worth nothing and threw it down the drain when you left me after being together for such a long time. I mean we were dating, how could you do that to your boyfriend? No! How could you do that to me? We were supposed to be best mates!”

            By this point in the conversation Arthur’s carefully constructed cool exterior was crumbling and everyone in the room could see this. Arthur dabbed furiously at his eyes with his shirtsleeve while spinning in place to lock eyes with Merlin. “Do you think that you could take care of this? I need some time to think.” With that said, Arthur was halfway out of the room before Leon sprinted forward and locked onto the crook of his elbow, turning him around so that they were face to face.

            “I never meant to hurt you Arthur. I just wasn’t ready to be honest to myself like you wanted me to be. Ever since then though I’ve been trying to open up more and I even found this amazing guy. His name is Gwaine and we’ve been together for close to a year. Let me tell you Arthur I’ve never felt as horrible as I did that day when I left. There are no words that could ever describe the love I felt for you back then. I still love you, but as a friend, I wanted to let you know, I never wanted to hurt you.”

           Arthur was openly sobbing now, with little hiccups interspersed with soft keening noises. He launched himself into Leon’s arms and let himself be comforted by the strong arms that wrapped around his middle. He nuzzled against Leon’s neck while reaching a hand into his shiny golden locks. Arthur pulled lightly and glanced up at Leon through tear-ridden eyes.

            “You don’t know how hard it’s been for me ever since you left. My father has been putting more and more pressure on me and I just wish that you could have been there to help me through.” Leon leaned down slightly and brushed his lips against Arthur’s cheek and whispered “sorry” into his ear.

            “Ahem, are you two ever going to explain what is going on. If you aren’t could we please just get down to business because I really need to sort out my father’s estate.” Sophia was looking at them with a sort of devilish grin on her face and Arthur knew that she was happy that Arthur had finally gotten some closure.

            Sophia and Arthur had become close friends in the months since they had first met, and Arthur knew that she would help him with anything. What Arthur didn’t really understand was why he had come in to find Sophia in Leon’s embrace. If Leon had said that he was in a relationship with another man, then why was he here comforting a woman.

            “I am not going to go into details Sophia, but this is the Leon I had mentioned in one of our previous meetings.”

           “Wait, the Leon from the stories you told me was my cousin Leon?” Leon looked sheepishly at Merlin, unable to get in a word edgewise with the glares that Arthur and Sophia had been surreptitiously sending one another. Sophia paused before continuing her little speech as she opened and closed her mouth seemingly at a loss for words. Sophia then turned to look at Leon and a look of pure horror passed through her face.

           “Oh my god! So then Leon was the guy you said was a god in bed. I asked for every detail and I was even aroused by your stories! This is so wrong, so gross! Why didn’t you ever mention Leon’s last name?”

           Leon looked like he wanted to throw up but with an audible gulp was able to swallow the bile that was no doubt rising in his throat. Merlin kept shifting his gaze from Leon to Arthur, his expression going from one of confusion to one of confusion and happiness. Why was he happy, was it because he had discovered that Arthur was gay? Did he feel something for Arthur? Did he feel the same sort of electrifying connection between them? Arthur really hoped he did.

          “Sophia I am really sorry, but I think that we should reschedule our meeting, more than half of it has already passed and we have a lot to do. I think I should go and clear my head before we begin something of such serious nature. I am tremendously sorry and I hope you do not mind, but I must be on my way.”

          With that Arthur was already out the door and headed towards the elevator. Leon made as if to follow him but the looks that both Merlin and Sophia sent him stopped him dead in his tracks. Maybe it would be better if they let Arthur go and take a walk so that he could clear his head, maybe that way Leon could clear everything up soon. Maybe he could even present Gwaine to Arthur, but with the way things had gone, Leon doubted he would ever get his best friend back.

 


	4. Chapter 4

           Arthur was pacing the length of his office as he waited for something to happen. He wasn’t sure what he was waiting for. He just knew that he recognized this sensation; he had become very familiar with it while he waited for Leon to come back. Now, here he was, and it seemed that he was still waiting.

           There was a small noise of knocking but Arthur was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he didn’t even register it. “Arthur, may I come in?” Arthur looked up as Merlin came into the room.

“I am so sorry for my outburst earlier Merlin, I honestly don’t know what came over me. I should have gotten a better hold of my emotions.”

“Arthur, calm down, I know why you reacted the way you did. I actually would like to say something along those lines to my own ex-boyfriend.”

           Arthur focused only on the last word, boyfriend. Did that mean that Merlin was gay? Maybe this day wouldn’t be such a total failure after all. Arthur sat down on the edge of his mahogany desk and crossed his arms waiting for Merlin to look up from staring at the spot on the floor. It seemed that ever since his slip-up by mentioning a boyfriend, Merlin refused to meet his eyes.

“Merlin, you do know that I have nothing against you for being gay right? I mean, if the scene in the conference room was any indication you could probably tell that I’m gay too. All of my friends know, the only person I haven’t told is my father. I trust that you won’t mention this little episode to him.”

“I would never betray you like that!” Merlin stepped forward and grasped Arthur by the shoulders. “I wish you’d be more confident in yourself is all, you don’t know me very well but I hope we can get to know one another much better in the coming months.”

           Arthur stared at Merlin’s intense blue eyes and was nearly swept away with the amount of love that had sprung on him. Merlin had such a kind face, it seemed like he could solve all of Arthur’s problems. Arthur was taken by surprise by the overwhelming desire to kiss Merlin and never let go. Just as he began to lean forward his door opened with a bang and Uther Pendragon walked in.

“Arthur, are you going to explain to me why I heard that you left your meeting with Ms. Sidhe so abruptly. Don’t believe that just because you are set to inherit this company when I pass that you can slack off. Now, explain yourself!”

           Arthur turned his face away from Merlin’s and backed away. He had been so close to finally getting what he had dreamed of only last night. Damn, his father always had a stick up his ass.

“Merlin, would you please excuse us. I believe that my father and I need to have a little chat.” Merlin looked between them before seeking confirmation with his eyes from Arthur. Arthur nodded once and Merlin quietly and quickly stepped out of the room.

 

 

 

 

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is extremely short but I will be uploading more before the week is done. There is some badly written smut in this chapter, so be forewarned. Constructive criticism is always well received.

           Merlin stepped outside of Arthur’s office. His mind was reeling, had Arthur really been about to kiss him? It had seemed like he would, he was even leaning forward and his eyelids had begun to droop. Damn! He had been so close to kissing him.

           When Merlin had bumped into Arthur last night he had felt a stirring in the pit of his stomach that felt like butterflies on crack. When he had gotten home after the meeting with Uther, he was excited. Not just because of the new job opportunity but also because of Arthur. He had really just hoped that he would be able to see him again. Here he was, Personal Assistant to the very man that had impacted him so much. The desire he felt for Arthur was incomparable to anything he had ever felt before, even with Will.

           His thoughts had been plagued with the memory of Arthur’s arm brushing his skin and had made for a very fitful sleep. In the end he had given up trying to sleep and had decided to take a shower to, relieve, the tension.

           Stepping in to the shower after discarding his clothes, Merlin had wasted no time in reaching for the lube he kept in the shower for just these instances. Merlin rubbed his entrance before sticking one finger in while imagining that it was the blonde man that was doing this to him. He ran his other hand over his nipples and plucked one gently, eliciting a sharp moan. Merlin put another finger in, beginning to scissor his tight, pink hole.

           His hand wandered lower until it reached his bright red cock. He had never felt so turned-on in his life. Merlin wrapped his hand around the hilt and began to move his hand. He started pumping faster as he slipped a third finger inside of himself. He reached lower until he was grasping his sac. He rubbed at his balls until he could feel his impending orgasm. Merlin began to pump his cock more vigorously, his hips moving in time with the fingers he was impaling himself on.

           The orgasm began in his toes, until he could feel his whole body thrumming in pleasure. Once his whole body was alight with pleasure, he came, seeing stars. When he opened his eyes, there was pink tingeing the edges of his vision and a sort of weariness had settled into him that he was barely able to stay awake while cleaning himself up and getting dressed in his flannel bottoms once more.

          Merlin cleared his head and swallowed the thick knot that had formed in his throat because of the mental images that his mind had conjured up. No, it definitely wouldn’t do to think about Arthur like that when he was at work. Thank God that there was no one around or they would have been able to take one looking at his red cheeks and at his tenting pants and known just what he had been thinking.


	6. Chapter 6

Arthur's POV

            Don’t get me wrong, my father was a kind man, but ever since my mother passed it seems like he has fallen into his work and nothing is more important than work. Arthur was just settling back down into his office chair after having received a verbal beating from his father for leaving the meeting with Sophia early when Merlin barged in without knocking.

            “So, Arthur, this has been an interesting first day hasn’t it? Is this what goes on here every day, because if it is I think the stress might be too much for me to deal with.” Arthur looked up to find himself caught up in the goofy grin that Merlin was wearing.

            Arthur was pulled out of his reverie by a couple of little coughing sounds that Merlin made in an attempt to get his attention once more. “I apologize, but I didn’t listen to anything of what you have just said.”

            Merlin looked incredulously over at Arthur and shook his head slowly from side to side, almost as if he was looking down upon Arthur’s behavior. “I said, what would you wish for me to do right now?” Arthur couldn’t help the blush rising to his cheeks as he thought of all that those words could imply. The mental images came unbidden and Arthur had to fight to clear his head.

            “How about you start by getting me all of the case files that I have yet to go over for the rest of today’s meetings. Oh, and Merlin, when is my next meeting?”

            “Your next meeting is with a Mr. Cenred who has been having land disputes with his neighbor and it is in exactly one and a half hours from now. I’ll be back in about two minutes with those files you asked for Mr. Pendragon.”

            “Merlin, wait! If we’re going to be seeing each other on a fairly regular basis, I think I would prefer it if you called me Arthur.” Merlin looked down shyly before nodding in assertion and walking out of the room.

            As Merlin left Arthur’s office Arthur let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding in until that precise moment. His office felt as if it had been charged with electricity and the anticipation in the air was thick and heady.

            Arthur cleared of his desk to make room for the files that Merlin would soon be bringing into the room. After successfully clearing off his desk Merlin walked in, again without knocking. “I think that you should learn how to knock Merlin.”

            “I’m sorry for not knocking, especially when both of my hands are busy carrying your things. How shameful of me to not knock before entering his royal prats’ chambers. Excuse me ‘Your Highness’.” Arthur tried to suppress a laugh but from Merlin’s gleeful expression he realized that he hadn’t been quite successful at that.

            “Now, Arthur, I have to remind you, that anything you need I am here to provide it for you. So, is there anything more that you need?” Arthur considered the possibility that Merlin was doing this impossible, but the man seemed so oblivious to his sexual side that it was highly improbable, or at least Arthur believed so.

            “Well, right now I’d like for you to go get me some tea, Earl Grey preferably. By that I mean that your job is riding on how you bring me my tea. I am going to assume that you know how I like my tea and if you don’t then I guess that I’ll just have to fire you.” Arthur saw Merlin gulp and could swear that he even heard it from all the way across the room. Arthur found this game of playing with Merlin to be extremely fun, he could definitely get used to seeing Merlin everyday and having him at his disposal for his every whim.

            Of course Arthur wasn’t going to fire Merlin if his tea wasn’t prepared the way he liked it but it was fun getting a rise out of Merlin. Merlin nodded and exited the room quickly. Arthur chuckled and glanced down at his files. He opened the top one first, the one about Cenred and began reading about how he was suing his neighbor for supposedly putting his fence on Cenred’s property. This type of case really frustrated him, who really cared about a couple of centimeters when you already had hundreds of acres to your name.

            Merlin came in about a minute later carrying a steaming mug of tea and looking very pale. He stooped down slowly and place the mug in front of Arthur, Arthur flashed him a smile and leaned over and brushed his fingertips over Merlin’s on the mug’s handle before Merlin hurriedly let go of the mug.

            Arthur picked the tea up and took a sip; it was perfect. The tea had three sugars with a lot of milk, just how he liked it. Very few people ever found out about his preference for sugary tea but it had been how his mother prepared it for him and he had never been able to rid himself of the habit. Arthur turned to look at Merlin who had gone impossibly pale and looked like he was going into full-blown panic mode.

            “How did you know? Did you ask my father’s secretary? No one on this floor knows how I take my tea.” Merlin stopped anxiously wringing his hands and a grin broke out onto his face.

            “I was seriously just considering giving you the tea with nothing in it, but I sort of forgot who I was making the tea for and made it like I would take it.”

            “So, you take your tea this way as well?” Not surprising, with how much he bounced around and all that nervous energy that he would consume a lot of sugary goods.

            “Thank You Merlin, for the tea, it is just like how my mother used to make it.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am posting two chapters, hoping that the length of this chapter will appease all of the people who were wondering why my upload from last week was just one chapter and why that chapter was so short. So enjoy! :)

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the show Merlin, if it did belong to me, there would have been more seasons in which Merlin and Arthur would have been made canon._

 

Time Jump: 2 months later

 

            Arthur was getting quite used to being roused from his sleep by the incessant prodding of one Merlin Emrys’ fingers. Arthur had early on given Merlin a key to his flat so that he wouldn’t have to bother with formalities such as a door. Truthfully, Arthur enjoyed waking up to see Merlin’s astonishing blue eyes above him, although it usually led to him practically having to run and lock himself up in his bathroom so that he could deal with a certain ‘problem’ that sprung up almost at the mere mention of Merlin’s name.

            On this one occasion it seemed that something else had woken Arthur up. It took a moment for Arthur to realize what it was that had woken him, and when he realized it had been someone knocking at the door he turned to look at his alarm clock in puzzlement. It was a half an hour earlier than Merlin usually woke him, so who was it that was at the door? Arthur pulled on a shirt that was on the floor next to his bed as he stood to answer the door.

            Arthur looked out through his peephole and could already feel himself groaning internally. Morgana. She had gone on a mission to a remote location in Africa that she had disclosed to no one and had said she would return in six months. It had barely been four. What had brought her back so early; Morgana was not one to let small occurrences disrupt her goodwill work. Arthur knew that the only reason that she would be back was if something major had happened, so suppressing the urge to run and hide underneath his covers, he opened the door to his apartment.

            When Morgana glanced up through her lashes at Arthur, he knew that he could never actually deny his half-sister anything. Morgana sidestepped him to get into his apartment and when she passed close to Arthur, Arthur could have sworn he had heard her sniffling. What had happened that would make Morgana, a woman that never cried not even when she had lost her sister, cry?

            When Arthur turned his attention back to Morgana, he noticed that she had already taken a seat in her usual place at the end of his comfiest couch, an ivy colored one that made you want to melt into the back of it. Arthur took his normal seat sitting next to her right arm. He held out a hand to her and she gladly grasped it with both of hers. Arthur tried not to show just how badly Morgana’s display of emotions was getting to him but it seemed that he was failing for Morgana sent a playful grin in his direction at seeing him begin to tear up.

            “Morgana, what happened?” Arthur had begun to think that maybe not that much had happened if Morgana was still able to smile about it.

            “Arthur, do you remember Percival?” Arthur remembered Percival, he was Morgana’s boyfriend, or at least the last time he had checked up on her anyway. What could Percival have to do with this?

            “Morgana. If he did something to you so help me I will tear him limb from limb!”

            “No Arthur it is nothing like that I just want to explain something to you and I felt I had to start from the beginning.” Arthur patiently waited for her to begin her story and once Morgana realized this she took a deep shuddering breath and began.

            “When I went to Africa, Percival came with me, but while we were there we began to grow apart and, we both fell in love with other people. He had found this orphaned young woman named Lamia and they hit it off right from the start. I however fell in love with the project’s supervisor. His name was Aggravaine. Percival and I split up soon after we realized we weren’t in love with one another anymore but it still sort of hurt, we had been good friends before we got together after all. Well anyways, a week a go, Aggravaine got a call from the local police and he never came back. I tried going out to find him but I didn’t even know where to begin so I decided to wait for his return, after of course filing a missing person’s report.”

            By this point in her story, Morgana’s tears were falling with greater intensity and at an alarming rate. Arthur thought he knew what had happened to Aggravaine if this was how his sister was reacting, but he waited for her to tell him. Morgana sniffled trying to clear her throat and then continued to tell her story.

            “Two days ago, I got a call from the police asking me to go in to identify a body that they had found. When I got to the station I kept repeating to myself that it couldn’t be him but I just knew that there was no other explanation for his disappearance. It was him, Arthur, he looked so peaceful, if I hadn’t known better I would have just assumed he was sleeping. Apparently he had been shot in the chest and mugged on his way back to our home. The thieves threw his body in a dump, which is why it took them so long to find him. Why Arthur? Why does the world hate me so much that they had to do this to me? They had to take away the father of my child!”

            Arthur was left speechless as he tried to process all that his sister had just told him. Her boyfriend had died leaving her alone and pregnant? Arthur leaned over and took Morgana in his arms and hugged her to him. He held her there for what seemed an eternity until he felt her breathing even out. He looked down to see that Morgana had tired herself out from the emotion and was now sleeping fitfully on top of him. He leaned down carefully and wrapped an arm around the back of Morgana’s knees and lifted himself and her up off the couch. Arthur walked over to the guest room in his apartment and settled Morgana into the bed under the covers. It seemed that he wouldn’t be going to work today.

            Arthur was thinking of all the things that he would need to have moved around in his schedule to allow for a day off when he heard the telltale noises of someone unlocking the door. He looked over at the alarm clock to see that it must be Merlin coming to wake him up. Arthur stood up and walked out of the room and straight into Merlin.

            “Hey Merlin. I need you to reschedule all of my meetings for today, I’m afraid I have a very urgent matter that I need to deal with here so I won’t be able to make it in to work.” Arthur had been whispering the whole time and it seemed Merlin was about to question it when Arthur put a hand on his mouth in a signal for him to keep it down.

            “What is going on Arthur? I can’t just let you take off a whole day! What am I supposed to tell your father?”

            Arthur was deep in thought when he heard slight noises coming from the room behind him. He steered Merlin in to the living room and sat him down on the same couch that Morgana and he had only minutes before vacated. Arthur was lost in thought for a few more moments before coming up with a solution. It would have to do, because obviously Morgana knew what would happen if Uther were to find out about the baby.

            “Merlin, I am going to tell you a secret but you must not tell Uther. It is too early for him to find out, he must not know until it is too late for anything to be done. My sister Morgana has returned from Africa.”

            At this Merlin looked confused before saying, “How is that a bad thing? Why shouldn’t Uther find out?”

            “Will you let me finish talking before interrupting me for once!” When Merlin made no move to continue, Arthur sank back into the cushions of the couch and turned his whole body so that he was facing Merlin.

            “Okay, what you mustn’t tell Uther is that Morgana is with child. Her boyfriend has passed and I know Uther would most likely make her get an abortion. I never got to meet her boyfriend but from how she talks about him I know that she loved him deeply. She would not want to get rid of the baby. We have to help Morgana conceal this from my father and I need your help.”

            Arthur was darting anxious glances at Merlin while he waited for his response. After around a minute, it seemed that Merlin had finally made up his mind.

            “I’ll help, after all, she is carrying my employer’s niece or nephew inside of her. I’ll do anything I can to help and keep her pregnancy a secret from Uther for as long as possible.”

            Arthur, without fully thinking things through jumped on Merlin, happy that he could always count on him to never let him down. Arthur reluctantly released Merlin, still keeping hold of both of his shoulders.

            “Thank You Merlin, I don’t know what I would have done with no one to help me and Morgana through this.” It was said with such sincerity that Merlin leaned in for another hug.

            What neither of them realized that Morgana had come out of her room five minutes earlier and thus witnessed the whole conversation all the while thinking, ‘now I have something that will keep my brain occupied.’ Both men had no idea what they had coming to them. Morgana smiled evilly at the pair still locked in an embrace on the couch and turned to go back into her room.


	8. Chapter 8

            Arthur woke up twenty minutes later still cradling Merlin’s body close to his. It seemed they had both succumbed to some much-needed rest. Al of a sudden, Arthur remembered how it had been that Merlin was now lying on top of him. Morgana was home, Morgana was home and she was pregnant. He just hoped that Morgana wouldn’t decide to get rid of the baby. If Arthur knew her like he thought he did, then that would be the worst decision she would make in her life.

            Arthur had been steadily rising up out of his position on the couch, momentarily forgetting that Merlin was lying on top of him. Merlin groaned and slid off of Arthur and onto the floor. Merlin hit the floor with a soft “oomph” startling Merlin into full consciousness. Merlin jerked to his knees looking around and seeming to be sporting some sort of deer caught in the headlights look to him.

            “Merlin, whatever are you doing on the floor? If you wanted to clean my flat with your face you could have just asked and I would have happily obliged.”

            “Prat.” Merlin continued to mutter obscenities directed towards Arthur under his breath. To Arthur the most bizarre one that he had heard was clot-pole. What was a clot-pole anyways? As Arthur got up off of the couch and headed to the kitchen he noticed that someone else was already in there. Morgana, had she seen him and Merlin sleeping on the couch?

            “Hey Morgana, how are you feeling?” Arthur wasn’t really expecting an answer if Morgana’s previous show of emotion was anything to go by. Morgana spun on her heels with a dazzling grin covering her face. To most it would have been beautiful, but to Arthur, it was the scariest thing he had ever seen his sister do, and that was saying something. He knew the reason that Morgana was wearing that unbearable smirk; she had seen him with Merlin. She no doubt thought they were some sort of item and wouldn’t stop harassing him until he asked Merlin out. This was going to be a long couple of months.

            “I am feeling glorious Arthur, it seems that there are more important things going on right now that have absorbed all of my attention. For instance, who is that stunning young man in the other room? Also, why was he sleeping on top of you? Last time we spoke you swore you didn’t have a crush on anyone, but I know you. Only very few other people are let into your apartment, so that man must be someone important to you for him to be here.”

            Arthur swore internally, now how was he going to keep his desire for Merlin hidden if Morgana was watching their every move. The scariest part was that he had actually been considering telling Merlin about his feelings and here he was, presented with a golden opportunity and he was chickening out.

            “He is my personal assistant Morgana nothing more, so of course he would have a key to my flat.”

“You’ve never given any other of you assistant’s a key to your flat, so why give this one a key?”

“None of my other assistants have lasted as long as Merlin has, and, I like him, he’s different. He’s like a child; he entertains me is all.” Arthur stepped around Morgana to open the cupboard door not noticing that Merlin had been standing right behind him. Arthur reached for the kettle and filled it with water. He turned to call out to Merlin to ask if he wanted anything to drink when he noticed Morgana surreptitiously glancing towards the doorway.

Arthur turned to look, only to find that Merlin was standing underneath the arch of the entrance to the kitchen. Merlin had slightly tear-filled eyes and looked hurt and winded, like someone had just hit him. In a way, it was as if Arthur had punched him. Merlin spun around and out of the doorway only stopping to bend down and grab the coat that was hanging on the coat rack before exiting Arthur’s flat.

            Arthur was left stunned and speechless, there were no words that could describe how guilty he had felt at seeing Merlin’s hurt expression. Merlin had been standing behind him the whole time, and although all he had said had been for Morgana’s benefit, he couldn’t help but wonder if he should run after Merlin. That would defeat the purpose though, seeing as he was trying to convince Morgana that he felt nothing for Merlin but friendly camaraderie, but looking over at Morgana he knew that she wasn’t buying a bit of it.

Sighing dramatically Arthur went out into the hallway where he changed into street clothes, still not having changed from his pajamas into something more decent, and headed out to find Merlin.

“Arthur, I know you care for him, you never could hide anything from me.” Arthur slammed the door shut, if anything, he was doing this to help get Morgana’s mind off of more painful subject matter. But, if he thought about it, the real reason that he was going after Merlin was because he had grown fond of him. Some might even call it love, but Arthur would never say something like that.

Arthur had wandered a few blocks but since there were so many different directions that Merlin could have taken, there was no way he would be able to find him now. Arthur gave up and turned to begin walking back towards his flat. Soon after beginning the journey back he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket indicating that a text-message had just arrived.

The text read: ‘Arthur, I have been childish to assume that I could work as the personal assistant to someone like you. I hope I was able to entertain you for the short while in which I worked for you. Do not expect me at work tomorrow for I won’t be there. I have made it so that all of your meeting’s for today have been fit in at later times and even have someone else lined up for my job. You’ll like him, his names George; he takes his job seriously, unlike me. I have told Uther about my renouncement and hope you have a wonderful life. Good day.’

Arthur dropped his phone back into his pocket and made the journey back to his flat feeling empty inside. Something was missing, and it seemed that he would never be able to get him back.


	9. Chapter 9

Arthur

 

            Arthur stared at the wall waiting for the feeling of being lost in a bottomless ocean dissipated. It wasn’t going away. It had been two whole days that he had been feeling like this. Empty, without purpose. Even if he had gone back to work after that first day, today seemed even more unending and nonsensical. It was like he was fighting a constant battle of wills with his own mind. Arthur sighed and leaned his head heavily back onto his desk.

            Arthur groaned when he heard the knocking at he door, one more thing that he missed about Merlin, him always barging in unannounced. George knocked on the door once more before slowly peeking through a small gap made when he opened the door.

            “Sir, do you need for me to bring you anything? I can make you some tea if you like.”

            “Sure George, bring me some tea and the case files for the rest of the day.”

            Arthur said this with as much sincerity as he could muster, but ever since trying Merlin’s take on tea; he knew he would never be able to enjoy tea the way anyone else made it.

            A reminder of the time Merlin had made that first cup of tea for Arthur only made Arthur feel all the more guilty. That had been happening more and more and no matter what he did, he was always left feeling like he had been the biggest prat in the whole world. He just wished that Merlin would come back to him. He missed those big hands of his that caused him to spill most everything on a daily basis.

            What Arthur missed the most about Merlin though had to be his astonishingly clear, deep blue eyes. Those eyes had seemed to be able to stare into his eyes and see the very deepest depths of his soul. Arthur wished he could have that deep, penetrating gaze trained on him once more. Arthur groaned once more at realizing that he had probably been fantasizing on about Merlin for at least a good two minutes. If he was ever going to get over him then he would have to stop thinking about him every second of every day, even if that may seem extremely difficult to do.

            There was a soft knock at the door followed by George poking his head through the door and asking for permission to enter. Arthur sighed, once again missing Merlin before scooting backwards in his place to let George place his tea in front of him on his desk. Arthur leaned forward once more and grasped the handle of the tea mug and raising it to his lips. It was close, but no one could ever make better tea than Merlin, probably not even his mother.

            George left Arthur’s office with the resounding click of the door shutting behind him leaving Arthur to wallow in self-pity once more.

 

 

 

Merlin

 

            It had been two days since he had last seen Arthur. Two days hiding away from the world, but mostly from Arthur. He was still kind of hoping that Arthur would go looking for him, but he had never actually told Arthur where he lived so now there was no chance of that happening.

            Merlin had been so sure that Arthur felt something for him, especially after Arthur had confided in him and trusted him completely. Why had he done that if he didn’t actually feel anything for him? Arthur thought that he was childish and he was humoring him that was why. Arthur had only been leading Merlin on, that had to be the explanation. Unless he never actually realized that most of their interactions consisted of flirting.

            Merlin’s mother had flown down from a small town in Scotland called Ealdor when Merlin had called her blubbering about how ‘Arthur never actually cared about me that stupid clot pole.’ Hunith had become very concerned about Merlin’s state and had therefore flown down to London in hopes of piecing her son back together again.

            Hunith walked into her son’s room carrying a bowl of chicken noodle soup only to find that he was already drifting off once more. It seemed he had cried himself out for the third time that day. Hunith looked at her only child for a second longer before a steely expression overcame her features.

She was going to do everything in her power to make Arthur Pendragon realize his feelings towards her son. Hunith lay the bowl of soup on Merlin’s nightstand and made sure he was covered completely by the blanket before exiting the room. She made sure to grab her coat and bag from off the coat rack before leaving her son’s flat. Now all she had left to do was find that Arthur bloke and make him come to see Merlin and apologize for all the hurtful things that he had probably said unintentionally.

She was doing this for her son, she just hoped that Merlin would see it that way and not be too angry with her.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long to post more chapters. I had been trying to be pretty consistent about when I updated but things have been so hectic this past month that once one update time went by, before I knew it it had been a couple of weeks since I'd posted. So, as an apology I am posting six chapters today, and hope to have the final three up next week.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin and never will. Merthur would have been canon if I did own it, but main point, Merlin is not mine.**

Merlin walked out of the shower and levitated the towel on the rack over to himself. He toweled off and walked into his room rummaging through his drawers to find a clean pair of underwear. After getting dressed he called out to his mom only to receive no answer in return. Merlin noticed that there was a bowl of soup on his nightstand and when he went to inspect it, he realized that it was cold.

            Merlin ventured out of his room, clad only in a pair of boxer shorts and a V-neck white sleeping shirt. He sat down on his couch and determined to wait for his mother. In the meantime, he turned on the TV after summoning the remote to him and settled down to watch the movie e had left on last night. French Kiss, it had always been one of Merlin’s favorite movies. The way that they fell in love with one another, leading them to practically run away from one another from the love that they both thought that the other didn’t return. It was a typical love story ending; one that he truly wished existed in real life.

            He was getting depressed again, all that he thought about seemed in some way to connect back to Arthur. He shook his head in an effort to physically will the thoughts away and once more settled into his couch to watch the movie. He could feel himself nodding off so he pressed the pause button and turned off the TV. He lay down on his couch and wrapped the warm blanket the kept on the couch for instances such as this one around himself and let sleep overtake him.

 

Arthur had just gotten home a few minutes ago and had barely had enough time to take off his shoes, suit jacket and tie before there was someone pounding loudly on his door. Arthur wearily got up from his couch and opened the door.

            “Hey Morgana, what do you need?” Morgana ignored his question and stormed past him.

            “I got a call today from a hysterical woman claiming that you broke her son’s heart. May I ask why she would think something like this? Who is her son, you must know?”

            “Morgana, why don’t you take a seat, it’s not good for someone in your condition to be so stressed, so take a deep breath and relax.” Morgana complied and sat down in the same place on the couch that Arthur had just vacated. Arthur groaned and went to sit on the other end of the couch, Merlin’s usual side. He cleared his head and waited for Morgana to calm down before beginning to speak.

            “Well Morgana, that was most probably Merlin’s mother. He was extremely upset when he heard me say those things to you about him and has since quit my employment.”

            “Why didn’t you say anything? I thought you went after him! Didn’t you catch up to him? Or did you just chicken out and decided to deny your feelings.”

            Arthur took a deep, calming breath before deciding what exactly he was going to tell Morgana.

            “I couldn’t find him. I went out there and there was no sign of him. I tried to follow him Morgana, but he disappeared. It seemed almost as if by magic.”

            Arthur could tell that Morgana knew that he loved Merlin but right now he couldn’t seem to care about anything else but getting this off of his chest. Right when Arthur was going to admit his feelings for Merlin to Morgana he heard a light tapping coming from the door.

            “Oh! I forgot to mention that Merlin’s mother, Hunith was going to come along as well. She said she wanted to meet the man that had broken her only child’s heart. If I am being honest, I think she means to kill you actually.”

            Arthur got up off of the couch slowly and made his way towards the door. He opened it slowly and cautiously only to be met by a woman that actually resembled Merlin a fair bit. The same pale skin and bowed lips. The hair color was different but she had blue eyes as well, and Merlin’s eyes were a more beautiful shade of blue.

            “Won’t you come in Hunith?” Morgana’s voice carried from the living room as she said this and Arthur was forced to move aside in invitation for Hunith to come in to his flat.

            As soon as the door was closed Hunith whirled on Arthur and slapped him across the face, hard. “Do you know what my son is feeling right now? How could you do that to him? Not only did he really like you he had told me that you two were supposed to be friends. Friends don’t speak badly of their friends when they believe that said friend is not within earshot!”

            Arthur paled at the words and was reminded of what he had told Leon two months back when they had had a similar meeting. Arthur fought down the bile that was rising in his throat and led Hunith into his living room where Morgana was waiting patiently. This was going to be a very draining intervention.

            Arthur chose to take the armchair across from the couch where both women had taken a seat. He waited patiently for either of them to give him a verbal lashing, what he got was totally unexpected.

            “Arthur, I need you to go to my son. He loves you and I have never seen him be like this towards any other. Not even with his ex-boyfriend Will and they were best friends before getting together only for it to end with Will deciding he liked girls better. So please Arthur, go to him. Apologize, do whatever you need to do so that my son can have a smile on his face again.”

            Arthur nodded and got up and out of the armchair, he went to the hall closet and grabbed his shoes and jacket, no time for a tie right now, he was in a hurry. He opened the door set on making things right with Merlin. Once he was out of the building he realized he had no idea where to find Merlin so he ran back upstairs only to find Hunith waiting outside for him. She had a piece of paper in one hand and Arthur’s car keys in the other.

            Arthur leaned down and placed a gentle peck on her right cheek. “Thank you Hunith, I’ll never forget this!”

            Arthur raced towards the address that was printed on the piece of paper but when he was at the door to the flat with one hand raised and ready to knock, he paused. He was panicking, would Merlin want to see him? Would he even open the door? Throwing caution to the wind, he knocked. When he received no answer he knocked again, this time a bit louder and for a bit longer. No all that was left to do was wait for Merlin to accept his apology.

           


	11. Chapter 11

 

            There was knocking coming from the door, but if it were his mother she wouldn’t have knocked and instead would have just come right in. Merlin was not in the mood to entertain any guests so they would just have to come back at a later date. The problem was that the knocking wasn’t stopping. If anything it just kept getting louder and more pronounced. Slightly put off, Merlin stood up to get the door. He walked at a calm pace; somehow wishing that if he took too long to get there that the person would just go away.

            “Merlin! I know you’re in there! Come on! Open the door! I really need to talk to you.” Merlin stopped walking and stared around at his flat. Everything was a mess, what was Arthur going to think? Who cares what Arthur thinks! What is Arthur even doing here? How did he know how to get here?

            Merlin hesitated a second longer before tightening the bathrobe around his waist and stepping forward to open the door. Arthur was looking down at the floor wearing a very dejected expression. As soon as the door swung open though, Arthur darted his glance upwards and stared at Merlin with glee filled eyes. Merlin took a step back in shock at Arthur’s sunken eyes and withdrawn cheeks. He looked worse than Merlin had when he had looked in the mirror this morning.

            Unfortunately for Merlin, Arthur took Merlin’s step back as a sign that he was allowed in and stepped forward into the flat. Arthur sat down on Merlin’s couch and waited for Merlin to get a hold of his shock and move from the spot by the door. After a couple of more seconds, Merlin stepped further into his flat until he was standing in front of Arthur.

            “So, how do you know where I live? I don’t recall ever mentioning anything of the sort to you.”

            “While I am hurt that you never told me where you lived, when you came to my flat practically every day. I didn’t know where you lived until this morning, when your mother stormed into my life.”

            Merlin’s eyes seemed to bug out of his head and he was quiet for a few more moments before plopping down on the couch, he was extremely close to Arthur, but he was too busy thinking to actually shy away as he normally would have. Merlin turned to look at Arthur and made sure to not look him directly in the eyes.

            “Merlin, you should have told me how you felt before you ran away. You should have also waited for me to explain. Don’t you know me? Don’t you know that I never actually thought any of those things about you?”

            Arthur turned Merlin’s face towards his so that they could be staring into one another’s eyes. Arthur leaned forward slowly and caught the edge of Merlin’s lips with his own. He pressed another kiss to Merlin’s temple before releasing his hold on Merlin’s face. Merlin looked up at Arthur through his eyelashes and opened his mouth, almost as if to ask something but closing it again, not knowing exactly how to begin to ask what he wanted.

            “It’s okay Merlin, whatever you want me to tell you, just ask.” Merlin leaned forward just a bit more on the couch so that their noses were almost touching.

            “I just wanted to know, if you didn’t mean any of the things that you said that day in your kitchen, then why say them at all?”

            Arthur stood up and sat back down but this time a little further away from Merlin so that he could look him in the eye. It was Arthur’s turn to open and close his mouth like a fish out of water as he searched for the right words.

            “Morgana has always been extremely involved in any aspect of my life. I just knew if she were to find out how I truly felt about you that she would completely put off her own worries and concerns to help me. I couldn’t let that happen. She is going through a lot right now and I felt that if I lied to her I would be able to protect her better. It was my turn to keep her safe.”

            Merlin looked at Arthur with pity in his eyes and inched closer and took hold of Arthur’s hands between his own. “Arthur, why didn’t you go after me? Why did you just let me run off?”

            “That’s just it, I did go after you. I ran around for almost an hour but I couldn’t find you. I was sure that you had seen me go after you and that’s why you were hiding. I went back to my flat that day but I haven’t been able to focus on anything since.”

            Before Arthur could continue rambling on, Merlin had already sprung forward and was grabbing Arthur round his neck so that he could angle his face upwards and kiss him deeply. Arthur responded in kind by pushing Merlin back onto the couch until he was lying on top of Merlin. Arthur let his hands go under Merlin’s shirt and stroke his soft alabaster skin. Merlin moaned into Arthur’s mouth, encouraging Arthur to do more.

            Arthur let his hands go lower until they had reached the waistband of Merlin’s pajama bottoms. He could already fell Merlin’s cock tenting his bottoms only making Arthur want him more. He wrapped his hand around Merlin’s member through his pants and squeezed lightly, eliciting a sharp gasp from Merlin. He let his hand wander into Merlin’s pants and this time he wrapped his hand around his actual cock and stroked Merlin until he knew he wouldn’t last much longer.

            Merlin raised a hand and shoved at Arthur so that he would back off. Arthur moaned at the loss of contact, but only until he realized that Merlin was just taking off his clothes. Taking this as a sign that it was alright to continue, Arthur disrobed as well. Once they were both fully naked, Arthur let himself crash his lips back down against Merlin’s and the friction of both of their naked cock rubbing together was too good for them to resist for any longer.

            They both began to roll their hips in an attempt to increase the friction that they had felt at first. Their movements became more erratic as Arthur continued to plunder Merlin’s mouth. Merlin wrapped one hand through Arthur’s golden locks while drifting one hand lower until it was wrapped around both of their erections. Merlin began to pump his hand in a different rhythm to that of their hips making the pressure that they both felt starting at the base of their spines crawl up until it encompassed their whole back. The pleasure they felt was increasing steadily until Arthur, in a bold move reached one hand down to fondle Merlin’s balls. Arthur let his finger trail lower until it was pressed at Merlin’s entrance. As soon as he had pushed the tip of his forefinger in to Merlin’s entrance, he felt Merlin’s come cover his chest and accompanying spasms wrack Merlin’s body. With the feeling of hot come sliding down his body Arthur let himself come all over Merlin’s chest and chin.

            Arthur let himself fall on top of Merlin as his breathing evened out. Even though he knew he would have to get up to go and clean up, he felt that were he never to move again, he would die the happiest man on Earth. He stood up slowly trying to ignore Merlin’s grunts of disapproval.

            “Merlin quit your whining. I need to clean your come off of me or I’ll wake up feeling gross. So I, am going to take a shower. Care to join me?”

            At that obvious sexual innuendo, Merlin jumped up and out of the couch, leading the way towards his bathroom.


	12. Chapter 12

 

            Merlin had always been gifted. Some would call it magic but, no, it was definitely magic. Merlin had always had his magic, he never knew where it had come from, but he wouldn’t be who he was without it. Since he had been born, he had been levitating things, like his binky. His mother had cried at first, when she realized that her child wasn’t normal, but later she recognized it for what it was. She had been gifted with a magical son and that was something that should be considered a gift from above. Hunith Emrys hadn’t always been a believer of God, but after she recognized that Merlin was her miracle child, she was definitely devout.

            She didn’t have anything against those that didn’t believe, they were after all; free to believe what they wanted. What she did have a problem with was how they would treat her son, just for being different. No one actually ever saw him doing magic, except for Will, but when Merlin would try to communicate telepathically his teachers would freak and start treating him like he was some sort of alien that wanted to eat their brains. After two different pre-school teachers, Hunith had decided to proclaim herself to be Merlin’s teacher.

            When Merlin was old enough to understand that he couldn’t communicate with others telepathically, except for his mother, he was allowed to start going to normal school. He began in the second grade. Luckily, a boy, Will had decided to take Merlin under his wing. They had begun to do everything together and by the second week of school, Will had proclaimed them to be ‘best’ friends.

            Merlin could talk to others with his mind and move things. In other words, he had extraordinary brain capabilities. Hunith knew this, and this was why she had always pushed Merlin to do his best in school. They did not have enough money for Merlin’s schooling so Merlin would usually steal using his powers. The highlight of their many years of poverty came in the form of a scholarship to the University of Oxford. Merlin had not ever used his powers to help himself and Hunith was going to do everything in her power to make sure that Arthur Pendragon didn’t ruin it all.

            Her son loved Arthur, so there was no doubt that he would soon find out of Merlin’s powers, so it would be best to test his loyalty before revealing the truth to him. Yes that was what she was going to do. Hunith was going to test Arthur’s love for her son, and if it didn’t stand up to her tests then Merlin was going to have to live with a broken heart. It would be better to live the rest of your life with a broken heart than it would be to live like some sort of human lab rat. Hunith did not want that for her son, she had made up her mind. Now all she had to do was take Arthur to the very limit and hope that he was worth Merlin’s love.

 

 

            Merlin was extremely warm, and comfortable. He couldn’t remember the last time he had woken up feeling this refreshed. What had he done yesterday? Merlin shot up in bed once he realized that he had spent the whole day making love with Arthur. He inclined his head slightly downwards and saw that Arthur was still sleeping peacefully, completely naked. Merlin went to move off the bed when he noticed that Arthur had begun shivering.

            They had fallen asleep the night before after various rounds of lovemaking and had felt hot so had decided that their own body heat would have to do. He reached over the bed and took hold of the sheet and draped it over Arthur’s still sleeping form. He then proceeded to go and make himself some tea. Choosing to ignore Arthur for the time being he set about his morning routine. He used his magic to take out a mug while he filled the kettle with water and used his powers to turn the stove on.

            He settled into his usual seat after having grabbed the morning paper from outside his door as he waited for the water to boil. He heard the kettle go off so he waved his hand to turn the stove off as he got up lazily and made his way towards the kitchen. He filled up his mug with the steaming water and placed two tea bags in it. He started to take out the rest of the things he needed for his tea. While he was in the pantry getting the sugar he had used his powers to open the fridge and get the milk out onto the counter.

            As he came out of the pantry he noticed Arthur holding the milk container wearing an extremely perplexed look. Arthur slowly turned to look at Merlin, who had been levitating the sugar in front of him as he walked out of the pantry. All of a sudden Arthur’s face went from shocked to positively gleeful.

            “That was awesome Merlin! How are you doing it! Why didn’t you tell me you had magic?” At that last question Arthur’s tone had gone soft and hurt. Merlin set the sugar down onto the counter beside where Arthur had put the milk and set about cleaning up his ‘mess’. His mother had always told him to be careful what he did and around who he did it. If he was supposed to be in a relationship with Arthur though, then this would have happened anyways, at one point or another.

            “Were you ever going to tell me? Am I not important enough? I thought we were friends.” Merlin cut his rambling off with a brash open-mouthed kiss to the lips. He pulled back and told Arthur telepathically to just calm down and let him explain.

            “How did you do that? What else can you do? This is so amazing!” Merlin shook his head from side to side; sometimes it was like he was dealing with a child.

            “Arthur, I was going to tell you, I just wasn’t completely sure that now was the right time to tell you. I wanted to be one-hundred percent sure that you wouldn’t betray me before telling you.”

            Arthur stared at him for a little longer before taking Merlin in his arms and hugging him for all he was worth.

            “I would never do anything to hurt you Merlin. I…I love you.”

            Merlin took a step back from Arthur’s embrace while he processed what Arthur had just said. He loved him?

            “I love you too Arthur.” They leaned into the embrace once more as they both carded their fingers through the others hair. This was definitely much better than the day that he had told Will. No, this was much better than any other day he had had in his life. The happiest day of his life.

 

 

           


	13. Chapter 13

 

            Arthur had always suspected that there had to be something off about Merlin and now he knew what it was. It only made sense that the person who could do things twice as fast as all of Arthur’s personal assistants had magic. There was no doubt about it; Merlin was definitely something special alright. He got up from the couch where he and Merlin had been watching several movies on Lifetime dedicated to love. The only problem was that Merlin had fallen asleep midway through the second movie.

            Although Arthur would never admit it, he was glad that Merlin had fallen asleep, because that way he knew no one would tease him for breaking up when the mother had died around the third or fourth movies. Arthur had been forced to remember his own mother and was only reminded of how he missed her dearly. He sat down on one of Merlin’s rickety old chairs surrounding a beat-up old coffee table. Arthur had only been here for three days and already it felt more like home than his own flat did.

            His phone started ringing and in an attempt to keep Merlin from waking up, he picked it up as quickly as possible. His secretary was on the other end wanting to know if he was going to make it in time for his four o’clock appointment or not. Arthur asked her who and what the meeting was going to be about. What he received as an answer unsettled him deeply.

            “Her name is Hunith Emrys and she says that it is family business that should be taken care of immediately.” Arthur quickly replied thank you before cutting his assistant off by ending the call.

            He reached for a notepad that was sitting on the counter and reached inside his briefcase for his pen. He scrawled a quick note to Merlin explaining that he had a meeting and would be back later. He picked up all of his things before heading to the couch and planting one light, loving kiss on Merlin’s forehead before whispering goodbye and heading out the door.

            He tried to get to his office as close to four as he could hoping that maybe that would prevent the obvious downfall that was heading his way. When he finally got to his office he nodded a quick greeting to his secretary and stopped at the door too afraid to go in.

            “Cutting it a little close aren’t we dear?” He could hear the obvious concern coming from her but he was too petrified to actually respond.

            He glanced back at her and smiled sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders as if that was the answer to everything. He nervously took hold of the door handle and opened the door but before entering he took a deep calming breath as if that would assuage his fears.

            Hunith Emrys stood facing the window with her back to him and so it appeared she had not noticed him come in. Apparently that was not the case as he heard her begin to talk as she turned to face him.

            “Don’t look so nervous Arthur. Why don’t you take a seat? We have a lot of things that we need to discuss today. Firstly, Merlin is special. I want you to realize that and I don’t want you _ever_ doing anything that could hurt him. Do you understand me?” At the last question her voice had taken on a dangerous tone and Arthur couldn’t help but gulp as he tried to think of what he could say to prove his love for her son.

            “I love Merlin, and I know that he is different and special. He is a whole other thing and I wish everyone else could see that. To me Hunith, your son is the epitome of perfection.” He let out a sigh and waited for her response.

            “You may think you know who he is, but actually there a whole other part of himself he is hiding from you. What would you do if I told you that Merlin was involved with a lot of bad men that will probably hunt you down and kill you just for associating with him?” Arthur stared at Hunith in an attempt to discern her meaning.

            “I would do everything I could to get him help. I would help him. I would make sure to be with him every step of the way. Hunith, may I ask. Why are you interrogating me all of a sudden?” Hunith made a sound that appeared to be a gasp, almost as if she was surprised that she had been caught doing something wrong.

            “Hunith, did you really think that I wouldn’t see this for what it was. You are trying to see if I am worthy of your son. All I can say to that is that Merlin and I already know everything there is to know about one another and Merlin would never betray me like that.

            Hunith smirked at that before replying, “Well, that’s where you’re wrong. I am completely sure that there is one thing that he has not told you and would probably not tell you for a couple of more months.” She leaned back in her leather seat and crossed her arms across her chest as she smirked in Arthur’s direction.

            “Actually, that is where you are wrong Hunith. If you are referring to Merlin’s magical abilities then we have already had this conversation a while back.” Of course Arthur didn’t elaborate that a while back actually meant two days before.

“We love each other and know that keeping secrets is detrimental to our relationship, so we don’t. We have come clean about every single secret we could think of. If anything else pops into my head that I neglected to tell him, then I’ll just tell him when it comes to mind. Nothing is going to split us up and I am willing to stake my life on it.”

Hunith stared dumfounded in Arthur’s direction as he stood up and started gathering his things. He turned to face Hunith one last time before exiting the room and heard himself say in his most professional ‘lawyer’ voice, “Now, if we are done her I have other things to which I must attend. Good day Ma’am.”

Arthur walked out a smug grin appearing on his face. He was so going to enjoy Merlin’s look of total embarrassment when he realized what his mother had done to his boyfriend. Arthur just loved it when his cheeks got all red when he was blushing.

 

 


	14. Chapter 14

 

            Uther was pacing the length of his office as he waited for the phone to ring for the fourth time this week. Ever since he had found out that his daughter was back he had been wanting to see her, but apparently she didn’t feel the same. He had sent his loyal secretary out to demand Arthur come and see him only to be met with Morgana. Morgana had begged his secretary not to tell him anything but that was not the way it had gone. Of course, as soon as she got back she had reported everything she had seen to Uther. Her main loyalties lay with Uther and only Uther.

            Uther let himself fall heavily onto his expensive leather chair with a sigh. He had heard his secretary say that Morgana apparently seemed to be pregnant, and quite a ways along if he was to believe her. Why hadn’t Morgana come to him? Who was the father of her baby? Didn’t Morgana know that he would be happy that he could finally have a grandchild to spoil rotten?

            There was a commanding knock on his door, which he took to mean that it was his son Arthur. “Come in Arthur.”

            Arthur came in to his father’s office trembling slightly for fear that his father had found about his relationship with Merlin. He had after all just bought a very expensive engagement ring, which he had been planning to give Merlin at dinner that night.

            “What is it that you wanted to see me about father? Merlin told me you requested my presence here as urgently as possible.”

            “Yes, Arthur, I have a very important matter that I must discuss with you. It’s about Morgana. I know that she is living with you. Before you try to deny it, I also know that she is pregnant.”

            Arthur stood frozen where he stood a couple of steps in front of his father’s desk. He tried to stutter out a reply but couldn’t seem to form any comprehensible words.

            “I just want you to tell Morgana that I just want to see her and that I miss her company. I would also very much like to meet my grandchild when they are born. Also, if you could tell me who this child’s father is and why he is taking no responsibility in this matter I will make sure he is taken care of accordingly.”

            Arthur realized what his father had just said and let a small smile grace his features before focusing on the last sentence his father had spoken and the expression that crossed his face was so crestfallen that Uther immediately felt sorry for having said the obviously wrong thing.

            “Well, I’m sure Morgana will be glad to hear that you aren’t mad at her for becoming pregnant before marriage and that you want to meet her son. Yes, she will be having a son, I hope you know that what I am about to tell you should be coming from Morgana, but as she has shown no inclination of telling you I’ll have to tell you myself.”

            Uther stood up from his chair at the sudden ominous tone his son had adopted and settled himself on the corner of his desk as Arthur let himself fall heavily onto one of the chairs placed in front of Uther’s desk.

            “Morgana loved him dearly. She even told me that they already had plans to marry. They met in Africa, he was the supervisor of the project she was on, and his name was Aggravaine. He was murdered, Morgana found out she was pregnant a day before they found his body.”

            Arthur looked so lost that for the first time in his life, Uther let himself comfort his son by placing a strong hand firmly on his shoulder. Arthur looked up into his father’s eyes, stunned by what his father had just done. Uther saw a small tear grace his features before Arthur broke down in front of his father for the first time since his mother had died. Uther took his son in his arms and just let him cry.

            When it seemed that Arthur was done crying for all he did now was sniffle every few seconds, Uther loosened his death grip around his son’s shoulders.

            “Father there is something else I must tell you.” Arthur’s face was still buried in his father’s suit, his hands clutching at his father’s back. “I am in love.”

            Uther let his son remove himself from his embrace completely as Arthur steeled himself to tell his father the truth.

            “I am going to be proposing tonight. I already have the ring and everything. I would like for you to be supportive and come to the wedding. I know that both I and Merlin would appreciate it greatly.”

            Uther looked puzzled for a moment before asking Arthur, “What does Merlin have to do with you engagement?” Uther thought for a moment longer before asking another question, “Who is it you are in love with, son?”

            Arthur took a deep calming breath and let himself exhale slowly. “I am in love with Merlin, I he loves me, I want to spend the rest of my life with me and if you can’t support that then you’ll never have to see me again. Goodbye father.”

            With that Arthur hurriedly left his father’s penthouse office and made a mad dash towards the stairs, not wanting to wait for the elevator.

            Uther eased himself back into his expensive leather chair and took a shuddering breath. Why did his children keep thinking that he wouldn’t accept them, why did they always run from him? Was he really that horrible? He was going to make it up to both of his children, starting with Morgana. She needed to understand that he loved her and her child deeply.

            Of course there was still Arthur. Why hadn’t he ever realized that he didn’t like women, was he really that obtuse? Uther had thought that being a homosexual was wrong but if his beloved son was one, then he would have to come to terms with it. He would have to clarify quite a few things to his son, starting with telling him that he loved him no matter what.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Expect the last chapters to be up either later this week or by Friday of next week. Also, if any of you notice any weird syntax errors please let me know as English is not my first language and I tend to think in Spanish, and since syntax for Spanish and English are so different I tend to have this problem. Please let me know if there are things I can improve. :)

            As soon as he had gotten back to his flat, he had headed straight for his room to change into his outfit for his date with Merlin. Morgana had helped him pick out the ring, but seeing as she was 5 months along and was starting to get easily grumpy, Arthur had planned out the whole night by himself. He stepped into his best brown dress pants and put on a red long-sleeved shirt.

            He walked into the bathroom and stared pensively at his reflection in the mirror before he heard a light tap at his door. Since he knew that Merlin was coming over for they had agreed to meet at his flat so that Arthur could surprise him when they got to where they were going, Arthur called out for Merlin to come in.

            Arthur quickly straightened up and stuffed the small black box that was beside his bed into his pants pocket. Merlin came around the corner and stepped into Arthur’s bedroom before letting out a low, long whistle. Arthur looked up and saw that Merlin was staring at him appreciatively. Arthur noticed that Merlin looked amazing as well, he was wearing black slacks with a blue long-sleeved shirt with a red scarf wrapped around his neck. Realizing that it must be chilly outside, Arthur grabbed his worn brown leather jacket before leading Merlin out of his flat by his hand.

            Merlin followed without making a sound, but as they reached the car, Arthur spun around and grabbed Merlin by the back of his neck and pushed him into the side of his car. Merlin let out an appreciate grunt and let Arthur run his hand up the side of his body, the tingling feeling that he was getting the opposite of unpleasant.

            Arthur leaned closer and spoke quietly into Merlin’s ear; “I can’t wait to get back here tonight so I can finally ravage you.” Arthur stepped back but not before lightly nibbling on Merlin’s overly sensitive ear.

            Arthur placed a quick yet gentle kiss to Merlin’s lips before crossing to the other side of the car so that he could get in the driver’s seat. Merlin still looked stunned and had yet to move. Arthur lowered the window and shouted out for Merlin to join him in the car.

            As if Merlin had been snapped out of a daze, he quickly opened the car door and got in. Although Arthur could see he was nervous, the happiness that radiated from him helped ease any worries that Arthur had had at the beginning of the day.

            Since his confrontation with his father earlier that evening he had been wondering if it really was the right choice to ask Merlin to marry him. Although he had begun to doubt, just being in close proximity to him helped to alleviate any inklings of doubt that he had had. Arthur looked back to the road and let a small smile grace his features. He knew that what he was doing was right, because he was completely sure that Merlin was the one for him.

            He continued driving till they got to a lonely cabin that was some 20 miles away from the city. It was a quaint cabin that had a rustic feel to it. Arthur had always loved coming here; he would come here with his mother and Morgana, sometimes even his father. Some of the best moments of his life had been in this cabin. The only reason that Uther had not sold it when his mother passed away, was because he could also remember all of the good times he had spent here with his family. So every month he would send someone from his staff to clean it up. The cleaning lady had been there the previous morning when Arthur had gone to set up everything he wanted.

            Arthur and Merlin stepped out of the car and walked towards the cabin as they both instinctually reached out their hands to grasp one another. They calmly made their way inside and Arthur started turning the lights on slowly as he passed by each switch. He stopped when the room was bathed in a warm glow, he heard Merlin inhale deeply and he knew he had done what he intended.

            In the center of the living room there was a blanket spread out with a tin with chilling champagne in it. There were a couple of candles spread out sporadically around the blanket with a few pillows on the blanket itself so that they could be more comfortable.

            Arthur led Merlin to the blanket and gestured for him to take a seat. Arthur left the room and started heading towards the kitchen. He grabbed the plates that he had placed in the microwave earlier and started heading back to where Merlin was waiting lying on the blanket. Merlin sat up slowly when he realized that Arthur had just gotten back and smiled when he noticed that there was some pizza on the plates that Arthur was carrying.

            “You certainly know how to entertain Arthur. Pizza, very fancy of you. You shouldn’t have gone all out.” Merlin winked at him sending him a smile that always drove Arthur crazy.

            “Well, I wanted to make a good impression on the man I love.” Arthur let Merlin react to his words and when he noticed that Merlin’s pupils were blown wide, he knew that Merlin was happy, even if he hadn’t said anything yet.

            “So, are you going to reply or not you cheeky bastard? Because from what I know is that when someone tells you they love you, you should reply with something like, ‘I love you too.’”

            Merlin stopped breathing so harshly and grinned widely up at Arthur who had still yet to lie down completely on the pillows.

            “I love you too you great big prat!” Merlin pounced on Arthur while he smothered his face with kisses.

            Arthur realized that even though he had wanted to wait until later to propose, there was no reason why he couldn’t do it now.

            “Yes, well seeing as we both love one another and all…” Arthur trailed off at seeing the worried look on Merlin’s face.

            “Don’t worry Merlin, this isn’t anything bad, I meant what I said, I do love you. I love you so much I can’t even breathe most of the time. Well, what I wanted to ask, I had planned on doing it later, but I don’t see why I can’t just go ahead and ask right now. I wanted to..to ask you…”

            Merlin cut him off with a quick kiss to the corner of his mouth, as he placed his hands on Arthur’s shaking ones. Arthur let go of one of Merlin’s hands and reached down to grab the black box he had in his pocket. As he took it out, he could see that Merlin’s eyes were now as wide as saucers. He had started breathing hard again, but it was nowhere near to the level of hyperventilation that Merlin was going through.

            “Merlin, will you do me the honor of marrying me?” Arthur opened the black velvet box to reveal the ring that sat inside. Merlin looked too shocked to move, let alone answer. So Arthur reached into the box and pulled out the silver band with small diamonds interspersed across it. He moved to place it on Merlin’s finger but Merlin stopped him.

            Merlin took the ring from Arthur’s outstretched palm and placed it between his thumb and forefinger. He studied it for a couple of long seconds, not noticing that Arthur was slowly reaching the point of no oxygen for he had not taken in a breath since Merlin had stopped his hand. Merlin slowly slid the ring onto his finger and looked up to stare into Arthur’s eyes. At that moment, Arthur knew what Merlin’s answer was and he took a deep gulp of air as he was finally able to breathe.

            Merlin began to softly weep as he leaned forwards and pressed his lips softly to Arthur’s. He backed away momentarily so that he could whisper one word into Arthur’s ear ‘yes’. Arthur took that as a sign and took the opportunity to swing himself so that he was lying on top of Merlin.

            They ate their pizza quickly, knowing that if they didn’t eat now they weren’t going to be eating until late in the morning of the next day. Once they had finished eating, Arthur dragged Merlin into a standing position and packed away their things. He pulled Merlin close to him as they walked towards the front door, turning the lights on as he went.

            Arthur had never felt so happy before in his life, and now here he was, engaged to a man, to a man that he loved. He had already told his father, his sister knew, and most importantly, Merlin loved him back. They got in the car, an a trip that would have usually have taken them between thirty to forty minutes only took fifteen.

            Luckily there were no police patrols to stop them so they made it back to Arthur’s flat in a record-breaking amount of time. As soon as Arthur had closed the door behind him, he could feel Merlin grasp at his jacket and pull it off while Arthur started to help Merlin rid himself of his shirt. They were both stepping backwards without realizing it until Merlin’s knees hit the arm of the couch and they both toppled back into the couch. They both pulled apart to laugh at the cliché when Arthur noticed a shadow on his chair. As he stared harder he could swear his heart had stopped beating, for in his living room, while he was about to make love to his fiancé was his father.

            Arthur pulled away abruptly as he noticed his father start to get up. He pulled Merlin up with him hoping that if his father were to attack, at least he would be able to protect Merlin. The lights switched on and Merlin noticed why Arthur had suddenly stopped and pulled away abruptly. Uther was wearing an expression of disgust, but Arthur could not identify who it was directed at. Arthur swallowed audibly before steeling up the courage to ask.

            “Why are you here father?” Arthur felt Merlin grip his arm in an encouraging manner. Uther’s eyes strayed to where Merlin was gripping Arthur’s forearm. Uther took a deep breath before doing something that he had not done since his wife had passed.

            “I am here to apologize Arthur. I should have been more supportive. I know I have never been the greatest of father’s but, I know that if your mother could see me now she would be ashamed at how I have treated you. Which is why I came here. I came to make amends. I just hope you will accept my apology and that it is not too late.”

            Arthur stepped forward, shaking off the death grip that Merlin still had on his arm. He took another step before swallowing his father in a hug. His father hesitated for a second before lifting his arms to reciprocate the affectionate gesture.

            “I could never hate you father. Even if you hated me, I would still never hate you. I love you, and I do accept you apology, although it could have come much sooner.” Arthur laughed uneasily and pulled away from his father’s embrace begrudgingly.

            Arthur turned around and walked out of the room. When he came back a moment later he was pulling a sleepy Morgana behind him.

            “Now that you have apologized to me, I think it is about time that you made amends with not only your son, but your daughter too. Morgana, he knows you are pregnant, though it isn’t that easy to hide anymore, but he loves you. He is your father as well and you should talk out your issues.”

            Arthur briefly hugged his father one last time before turning and kissing Morgana on the cheek and grabbing Merlin’s hand.

            “Now if you need me, I don’t care, I am way too tired, Merlin and I will be in my room. I don’t want you to interrupt us. I want to sleep, and I feel as if I could sleep for days. Merlin, let’s go.” Arthur headed to his room and walked in, Merlin was still standing still, blushing profusely. From inside Arthur’s bedroom came a shout of ‘Merlin’, and Merlin snapped out of his daze and made his way hurriedly over to Arthur’s room.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am going to be updating the last three chapters today, a little later than I said I would but with this I am finally done. If any of you are interested in my Hawaii five-0/Yuri on Ice!! fic now that I have finished this and have more time after finishing exams, I'll start posting the chapters I have done soon. Thanks to all of you that stuck through even when I took longer to post than I said I would. I hope you all enjoyed it and thanks for reading!!

 Alternates between Merlin and Arthur's point of view, with a little from Uther

 

            Merlin had never felt so conflicted before in my life. He was the happiest he have ever been, and engaged to a man that he loved. But Merlin was being hauled into Arthur’s room, while Arthur’s father and sister were still standing right outside the door in the living room. Merlin turned to find that Arthur was already waiting patiently for Merlin on his bed. His crimson shirt had already been discarded and so had his shoes. Arthur looked like a statue of a Greek God. His body glistened in the faint moonlight that was pouring in through the open curtains.

            Merlin forgot his initial worries and rid himself of his own shirt as well. He started making his way over to Arthur on the bed as he removed his shoes and socks. This was proving to be a much more difficult task and Merlin ended up falling onto the bed on his back.

            Arthur took the opportunity to straddle Merlin and began attacking his mouth with a sudden devout fervor. Merlin could feel himself hardening in his pants rapidly so he moved higher up on the bed while lifting his hips so that he could remove his pants. When Arthur realized that Merlin was beginning to remove his pants, he moved to help him while beginning to unbutton his own. Arthur pulled Merlin’s pants off completely while standing up off of the bed so that he could also remove his own.

            Arthur took this chance to pull of his briefs as well but he did so slowly, making sure that he got Merlin as riled up as he could. Merlin impatiently dragged Arthur onto the bed so that Arthur could kneel between his legs once more. Arthur pressed forward to kiss Merlin but was stopped when he felt the most delicious friction he had ever felt. He snapped his hips forward again, enjoying the sharp moan that Merlin let out. Merlin couldn’t wait any longer so he shoved off his boxers so that their hard lengths could finally rub together.

            Once they were both fully naked they attacked each other’s mouths ferociously once more. Arthur let his hand snake down to tweak Merlin’s right nipple as he released Merlin’s mouth and started to suck his way down to Merlin’s neck. Arthur made sure that he had left his mark before moving lower so that his mouth was over Merlin’s left nipple. He pressed a light kiss to it before licking a broad stripe across it. Merlin felt his whole body go alight with pleasure as he arched up into Arthur’s mouth.

            Arthur slowly moved even lower while still keeping his right hand over Merlin’s right nipple. Arthur teasingly licked across Merlin’s lower abdomen, right above his crotch, before moving lower to caress Merlin’s upper thighs. When Arthur felt Merlin becoming restless, he took the opportunity to swallow Merlin whole. He had always been very good at this particular activity and enjoyed being the cause of so much pleasure for his bed partner.

            Merlin had not been expecting Arthur to take him whole so the sudden onslaught of pleasure brought out a loud moan from his lips that had Arthur humming while still bobbing his head up and down on Merlin’s length. Arthur moved his right hand lower across Merlin’s body until he was grasping the base of Merlin’s cock. He did not let up and only continued to suck and bob his head faster while also pumping Merlin with his fist.

            Merlin could hold off no longer as he let his hips snap up in time to Arthur’s rhythm. Merlin let his hand drift lower until he had his hand resting against Arthur’s silky blonde hair. Arthur smiled when he felt how receptive Merlin had become all of a sudden and only continued to speed up his pace.

            “Arthur, stop, I’m going to come.” Merlin came with a sharp cry of ecstasy as he arched his back even higher than it had already been. Arthur swallowed the taste of his lover greedily, but not being able to take all of it he pulled off with an obscene popping sound.

            “Arthur, “ Merlin took a long, deep steadying breath before continuing, “that was amazing.”

            Arthur grinned up at Merlin before leaning forward to claim Merlin’s mouth once more. “I always aim to please.” Merlin hit Arthur’s arm mockingly before realizing that Arthur had yet to get off.

            “Arthur, I can help you take care of that.”

            Arthur seemed to realize what Merlin was referring to before grinning evilly. “I have a better way to help myself.” With this proclamation Arthur once more pounced upon Merlin and attacked his mouth. Arthur’s hand reached over to the nightstand to grab the bottle of lube that he had in the first drawer. When Merlin saw what it was that Arthur had been reaching for, he stiffened before sending Arthur a look that was so lust-filled that Arthur couldn’t help but kiss him. This kiss was different, it was much more caring and filled with love than any other previous kisses and Merlin knew that what they were about to do wasn’t sex, they were going to make love.

            As Arthur reached down to gently stroke Merlin’s oversensitive cock back to a standing position, Arthur opened the cap of the bottle of lube. He put some lube on three of his fingers, but not knowing when the last time Merlin had had sex was, he decided to take things slowly.

            He placed his index finger at Merlin’s opening and circled his finger around a couple of times, enjoying the sounds that Merlin was making before pressing in through the tight ring of muscles. Merlin winced but didn’t make any sound, he knew that if he remained relaxed the pleasure would arrive much sooner.

            Arthur started to slowly move his finger inside of Merlin and once he was sure that Merlin had adjusted sufficiently, he placed another finger inside. Arthur began to scissor against Merlin’s entrance slowly so that he could get him ready for when they actually had sex. Arthur was still pumping Merlin’s cock in an attempt at getting Merlin to stay relaxed when he hit Merlin’s prostate. Merlin arched up and off of the bed as he felt the pain mingling with the intense flash of pleasure that he could feel not only in his cock but also in every part of his body.

                        “Now Arthur, take me now. I don’t care about the pain. I want you in me now!” Arthur took the command for what it was and withdrew his fingers from Merlin noticing Merlin moan in displeasure at the loss. Arthur took the bottle of lube and slathered some onto his cock before tossing the now empty bottle to the side.

            Arthur grabbed his cock and lined it up with Merlin’s entrance before stopping to look at Merlin for confirmation. The look on Merlin’s face was one of such utter devotion that Arthur stuttered to a halt, before thrusting forward slowly. Merlin gasped audibly and Arthur stopped meaning to ask Merlin if he was sure but the glare that Merlin sent him told him that he had better not stop or he would be in for a world of pain.

            Arthur kept moving his hips forwards slightly, even though his body was screaming for him to pound into Merlin as hard and as fast as he could. He restrained himself so that he could make this an extremely enjoyable and memorable experience for Merlin.

            When he was fully seated within Merlin, he stopped for a couple of moments so that Merlin could get accustomed. Only when Merlin gave a small almost imperceptible nod did Arthur begin to move. He rolled his hips forward, searching for that spot inside of Merlin that would make him scream in pleasure. After a couple of more thrusts he found it, Merlin screamed in pleasure and Arthur started to pump faster into Merlin.

            “Harder Arthur! Fuck me, do it harder!” Merlin had begun to string together an almost incomprehensible string of words and all Arthur could even make out were, harder, and Arthur. So Arthur complied. He started pounding into Merlin harder and faster with each thrust and he could feel himself get close to climax and he was pretty sure Merlin was as well, if his ragged breaths and escalating moans were anything to go by.

            Arthur continued to hit Merlin’s prostate with every single thrust forward and as he wrapped his hand around Merlin’s cock and pumped it twice, he felt Merlin clench around him and knew he was going to come once more. As Merlin tightened around his cock as he came, Arthur couldn’t hold off any longer as he came as well.

            They were both breathing hard as Arthur pulled out of Merlin; his come leaking out of Merlin slowly. Arthur lay himself down beside of Merlin and kissed him softly on the lips before dragging Merlin to him. Arthur wrapped his hand around Merlin’s waist and lightly kissed Merlin’s temple.

            “I love you so much Merlin.” As he was drifting off to sleep, he heard Merlin reply, “I love you too Arthur.”

 

 

 

 

 

Uther

 

            Uther stared at his daughter and wished he could say something to comfort her, but knowing that he could only change the future, so it did no good to dwell on the past. Morgana looked groggy from having been woken up in the middle of the night, but most of all she looked terrified of what her father might have to say to her.

            “Morgana I am so sorry for not being a good father to you and never being there for you.” Uther stepped forward so that Morgana could see him, as the lights in the living room had yet to be turned on.

            As Morgana opened her mouth to speak she heard a moan coming from her brother’s bedroom and knew that that was her cue to leave. She looked up at Uther and saw that he was smiling hopefully at her.

            “I think we should take this conversation elsewhere, maybe back to the house. But I want you to know that I never resented you for not being there, I knew why you were never around, even if Arthur couldn’t seem to grasp it. You were working day in and day out to ensure a brighter future for us. I want to thank you for that.”

            “Morgana, you don’t know how much this means to me coming from you. It hurt me deeply to know that you thought that you couldn’t come to me with the news of your pregnancy. I wanted to let you know that any child of yours is automatically going to be permanently lodged in my heart, no matter what you might have thought my reaction was going to be.”

            Morgana weepily looked back up at Uther and rushed forward to hug him. Uther immediately brought his arms up to caress his daughters back, again feeling utterly useless to fix the pain he had brought to both of his children. As he was about to tell her that he loved her no matter what, he heard a voice that sounded a lot like Merlin’s yell from the bedroom, ‘Harder!’ Uther stepped away from his daughter stunned into silence. Morgana looked up at her father’s face and couldn’t help but laugh.

            “Why don’t we talk over a late night snack? Say, pie, I know you love pie and there is this great diner a couple of blocks from here.” Uther seemed to consider it before nodding, a radiant smile gracing his features. He was finally making up for lost time. He would show his children that they shouldn’t hide anything from him, he was a new man from now on.

 

 


	17. Chapter 17

4 months later

 

Arthur

 

            Arthur was waiting outside of his sister’s hospital room. He could hear her pain-filled shouts coming from within urging him to do something to help her. He was standing outside waiting explicitly under Morgana’s orders that he not come in under any circumstances. Uther, Arthur and Morgana’s father was pacing in front of the Arthur as he too fought off his instincts to go barging in to the hospital room where his daughter was screaming at the top of her lungs.

            Arthur could hear Merlin’s encouraging words coming from inside the hospital room. He and Morgana had grown quite close ever since Morgana and Merlin’s mother had plotted to get them together. Which was why Merlin was now inside the hospital room helping Morgana deliver her son. With one last cry of push and an extremely loud scream from Morgana, quiet descended upon the room and those waiting outside. When they heard a small cry that rapidly escalated to shrill cries, both Arthur and Uther rushed into the hospital room.

            The doctor was busy handing the baby to Morgana to notice that they had barged in, but Merlin noticed right away. The smile in his face gave away all of his emotions. Merlin looked back at Morgana and Arthur took the opportunity to turn towards the newborn baby cradled in his sister’s arms. He was so beautiful, his round cheeks and a small tuft of black hair on his head. Arthur felt the undeniable urge to coo, but in favor of keeping his status as a manly man, he chose to ignore it.

            Merlin and Arthur had decided to have their wedding after Morgana’s son was born in order to please Morgana, for when she had heard the original date intended for the wedding, she had freaked out and complained that she was going to be too big to fit into her bridesmaids dress. She was going to be Arthur’s maid of honor, and wanted to look her very best. So, thus they had all agreed that the wedding should be held three months after her son was born. According to Morgana that was how long she was going to need to get back into shape. Arthur laughed at the thought of Morgana in her dress had their wedding been a month ago, when they had initially wanted it.

            At the sound that Arthur made, Uther glanced towards his son with a questioning look. Normally said look would have intimidated him greatly, but since their were tears at the corners of his eyes, something that he was not going to comment on, he only felt a surge of emotion directed at his father swell up in him. He had never hoped that this day would come, the day in which he realized that his father loved him and his sister unconditionally and had never meant to undermine them throughout their lives. Arthur shook his head to remove the feeling and turned once more to look at her sister whom was smiling down at her newborn son with a smile that Arthur personally had not seen grace her face in close to two months.

            He moved closer to the bed and sat down on the armrest of the chair that Merlin was occupying. He leaned closer to get a better look at his new nephew when suddenly the baby opened his eyes, they were a beautiful shade of blue and he knew instinctively that he was going to be drop dead gorgeous when he was all grown up. He turned his head in Morgana’s direction before taking a deep breath and asking what he had wanted to know since he had heard that Morgana was going into labor.

            “So, what are you going to name him?” At Arthur’s question both Merlin and Uther looked up at Morgana, both obviously very interested to know the answer.

            Morgana took a deep breath before nervously laughing a little and beginning to speak. “I have decided to name him Alexander, I want him to be strong so that he can live a long and fulfilling life, unlike his father.” At this, Morgana’s voice cracked before regaining her composure and looking down to stare lovingly down at her son, Alexander.

            Uther took a step closer to the bed as Alexander began to fuss once more. He started to move as if to take him before stopping and sheepishly turning to look at Morgana. “Can I hold him,” he asked. At Morgana’s nod of approval he slowly picked up his first grandchild and cradled him in his arms, being mindful of his small head. He turned to Morgana once more before regretfully handing him back over to his daughter. Morgana beamed up at her father at the obvious display of affection for her newborn son.

            “You know, your mother’s would never let me hold you. They said I was too tough to hold a baby right. I would only hold you when they were too tired to do so themselves. Didn’t even let me carry you once you were slightly older. I guess that’s why I always believed that I could never be a good father to you two. It was just expected of me to not be very good at being a father.” Uther turned away so that his children wouldn’t be able to see the sadness in his eyes. He turned back to his children and resumed talking.

            “I guess this is my chance to amend for past mistakes, and let me tell you, my grandchild will never suffer from a lack of love from my part, I swear to you.” Then he turned to face Merlin. “Just because you and my son are both men don’t expect me to be lenient. I expect grandchildren from you two as well. If I got my say, I would hope for both my children to have many children, just so I could spoil them rotten. Besides, my money isn’t getting used by me, and believe me I have a vast amount of it piling up.” He winked in the general vicinity of Merlin and Arthur before turning back to look at his daughter and grandson. Morgana looked like Uther had done the most astounding thing he had ever done, and he probably had. Morgana shook it off when she noticed the nurse that had come into the room.

            Uther seemed to notice as well and turned to shoot her a glare before stopping and staring at the beautiful older woman now standing in his daughter’s room. She looked to be around forty years of age yet she appealed to Uther like no one had since the death of his wife Ygraine. She turned towards Morgana and glided over to the side of her bed. She looked kind and wise with blonde slightly graying hair. She looked apologetic for a moment before announcing; “I have to take your baby over to the incubation chamber so that it’ll be easier for him to adjust to being out of your womb. I must know his name before I take him though. She smiled kindly at Morgana before glancing down at the baby Alexander.

            “Oh! Of course I had almost forgotten. His name is Alexander Pendragon.” Morgana smiled regretfully down at her son before handing him over to the woman.

            When the nurse was about to exit though, Uther stopped her. “Do you mind if I accompany you to your destination?” The nurse blushed before accepting his offer. Uther silently made his goodbyes before hurrying out of the room with the nurse.

            Merlin looked up at Arthur confused as to what had just happened before an idea popped into his head and he couldn’t help but burst out with laughter. Arthur turned to glance down at his fiancé incredulously before cracking up himself.

            “I guess you two are going to be getting a new step-mother soon.” Arthur knocked Merlin in the back of the head before settling into an easy and comfortable silence with two of the now four people that he most loved in the world.


	18. Chapter 18

3 years later

 

Uther

 

 

            Uther could hear his son’s and Merlin’s hushed whispers coming from inside the bedroom. There almost seemed to be a certain sense of urgency to them. They seemed to have come to a conclusion for they soon stepped outside and joined Uther and Morgana in the living room. They both looked extremely weary, but there seemed to be an underlying sense of happiness to them. Uther suspected it was because their adoption papers had finally gone through and they would soon be getting a new child. Suffice it to say, Uther really didn’t want to ruin their ‘surprise’ and so decided not to let them know that he already knew what they had brought him here to tell him.

            Although Uther did like to think that he was prepared, what he was not prepared for was the sudden crying that came from the bedroom adjacent to the boys’ room. Merlin’s face suddenly grew pale as he rushed back into the bedroom. Uther glanced over at Arthur only to realize that his son was grinning sheepishly at the floor. Probably ashamed that Uther had not found out directly from them. Uther cleared his throat loudly to get his son’s attention. Once he was sure that Arthur wasn’t going to run away, he motioned for his son to take a seat. Arthur dropped heavily onto the couch letting out a breathy sigh.

            “Arthur, why did you not tell me that your papers had already gone through. Let alone that you were going to be receiving a child.” Uther glared disapprovingly at his son as he noticed Merlin coming back out of the bedroom, this time with a bundle wrapped tightly in his arms. Uther couldn’t help but smile at the sight. Merlin was going to be such an amazing father. He turned back to look at his son so that he could continue reprimanding him, only to find that Arthur’s attention was solely on Merlin and the baby. Uther could not have been any prouder of his son at that moment, seeing him glancing adoringly at his husband, but with a look of such intense love directed at the bundle in Merlin’s arms.

            “Never mind son. We can discuss this further at a later date. Now, though, I wish to meet my grandchild.” Uther spread his hands outwards in a sign meant to communicate his need to hold his grandchild in his arms. Merlin looked adoringly at his child once more before handing her over to Uther. Uther looked down happily to stare at stunningly blue eyes. For this being such a rapid proceeding, the boys sure had chosen the most beautiful baby, she looked just like the both of them. Her eyes were a pale ice blue, which would most likely darken in the future to resemble Merlin’s eyes. Her mouth had the same upwards curve that Arthur’s did, and in that instant Uther knew that he loved his granddaughter with all his heart. She would have the happiest of childhoods with Merlin and his son as parents. It also didn’t hurt to have a grandfather who was going to dote on you hand and foot.

            Uther glanced back up at his son and son-in-law. “So, have you decided on a name yet?” Uther could see the looks that were being sent and he just knew that they had. “Are you going to tell me any time soon?” Arthur chuckled at his father’s crude way of getting to the topic he wanted to discuss. Arthur looked at Merlin once more as if in confirmation before his eyes alighted once more on his daughter held securely in Uther’s arms.

            “That is why we asked you here father. We wanted to ask for your input on something. You see, Merlin and I…” Arthur trailed off once more as if unsure. Merlin stepped forward and grabbed his hand comfortingly. Arthur took in a deep breath before exhaling loudly. He turned to look at his father once more. “We were wondering if we could name her Ygraine. The name just fit her. We just wanted to let you have your say first, before we made anything official though.” Arthur was studying his father’s face carefully to try and gauge his reaction. He certainly wasn’t expecting for Uther to break down, but that is exactly what happened.

            Uther started laughing at first, quietly then turning into loud guffaws. Soon though, his laughing started to sound pained, the once joyous sounding laughter turned into badly concealed sobs. Uther let the pain and sadness take over him as the sobs overtook his whole body. He glanced down at his precious granddaughter only to find her looking at him questioningly. Her eyes held so much knowledge. So much like his darling Ygraine’s. He let the feeling of loss pass from him as he once more looked down lovingly into the face of Ygraine Pendragon. Uther let out another breath before righting himself and turning to stare at his son and Merlin.

            They looked anxious and worried. Probably anxious to know what he thought of their idea, and worried for the safety of their precious daughter. Uther handed her over to Arthur who held her almost as if she were a lifeline. Uther turned to looks at Merlin once more, only to find that Merlin was not looking at Ygraine but at him. Uther nodded once in approval and Merlin seemed to understand as his face broke out into the biggest grin Uther had ever seen on his face, maybe it could even rival the one he had worn on his wedding day, but this one definitely surpassed it. Merlin turned to Arthur and as soon as Arthur saw the look on his face, he understood as well. Arthur turned to his father, handed Ygraine over to Merlin and rushed at his father.

            As they wrapped their arms around one another, the ringing of the doorbell could be heard echoing throughout the room. Merlin left to answer it coming back seconds later accompanied by an over exuberant Morgana. Morgana was closely followed by her now three year old son, Alex. As soon as Alex noticed that Merlin was carrying something, he asked Merlin what it was. Merlin leaned down close to him revealing what was in the blanket.

            “This is Ygraine Alex, meet your new cousin.” Of course Alex looked perplexed for a couple of seconds before fully grasping what this meant.

            “Now I have someone to play with!” He started dancing around the room with joy until he stopped with a look of puzzlement on his face. He turned to face Uther. “Ygraine, like granma Ygraine?” Uther looked shocked by the question before smiling tenderly at his grandson.

            “Yes, Alex, like grandma Ygraine.” Uther couldn’t help but let out one more tear for his departed wife before embracing his grandson tightly.

            “Granpa, too tight. Can’t breathe.” Uther begrudgingly let go of Alex for him to scamper back to get to know his cousin Ygraine better. Uther couldn’t help but feel that he had the best life ahead of him. He had love and acceptance, but most importantly, he had his family.

           


End file.
